I never would believe that Providence had sent a few men into the world,
ready booted and spurred to ride, and millions ready saddled and
bridled to be ridden. -Walt Whitman, poet (31 May 1819-1892)
Hello Reno Bound Goil! Glad you will be taking the kitchen money to gamble with. This way, after all your winnings we can pay for the extension as well! [I paid Costco. What do you want to do about transfer for kitchen? Can it wait until I'm back?] Just a quick note as we are dashing out the door to start today's ride.
When I first looked at the clock it was about 5:00 am and so I closed my eyes again, not to wake until it was close to 7:00 am. Enjoyed a delicious sleep as the cool mountain air was perfect for contributing towards a more than sound sleep. Of course, the 500 ml bottle of Zbójecka na zdrowie Cytrynówka, 40%, [local Lemon Vodka], that Thomasino and I managed to polish off in my room last night, didn't hurt either! Glasgow had gone out for a bite to eat earlier so he was not part of the demolition crew and declined to even taste the marvellous elixir upon his return.
At any rate, breakfast is not served until 8:00 am so everyone is enjoying a bit of a sleep-in as most mornings many of us are down to have our first java by 7:00 am, at the latest. I made myself a cup of Instanto, quite good in fact, so will be fine until I hit the dining room. Curious to see what will be served as the hotel itself has just recently opened and it is perhaps the most deluxe we've stayed at, either in the Czech Republic or Krákow. Ultra modern with a wonderful shower and other sleek bathroom fittings. Plenty of room for toiletries and even a hook or two!
Single beds are very, very comfy and we have a small fridge, great for chilling our water and juice. Even large enough for my camel pack's bladder. Two balconies, no less, so we can dry our "washing" outside. We share one with Pat and Merrily and view from their balcony has most wonderful view of the Tatras. Basically, Zakopane is a ski resort, [Whistler Village or Lake Tahoe, on steroids!], but with hiking, climbing and mountain biking as seasons allow. Three million visitors per year and numbers are increasing each year.
Peter, yesterday's guide for an incredibly interesting and informative walking tour of the historical part of the town, informed us that due to hotel, hostel, B&B infrastructure, etc., place can accommodate about 400,000 thousand visitors at one time! This when local population is only 25,000! Quite an experience to walk the main pedestrian concourse with its share of shops dedicated to selling wares and services specifically for holidayers and other tourists, as well as many high-end fashion stores, etc. Still the local, wooden architecture is extremely attractive and locals are fiercely proud of its so-called "Highlander" style, a variation of what many of us would think of, without meaning to be disrespectful, as being somewhat similar to Swiss chalet or Bavarian homes, with steeply sloped roofs for heavy snow, etc.
Much, much, love to you, my Darling. More later when we are back. You'd love Poland so I trust we can travel here together. Fondestos to Clarisse et al. Cheers, Patrizzio! PS: Thanks for Folk Fest newsletter! Pics: Tatra Mountains; view of Zakopane from funicular viewpoint, from opposite side of the valley, looking across town to Tatras; Vodka and Glasgow!
Dear Sir Pat. Trust all is well and no news is good news. Phoned Lady Dar and only got answer-phone. Perhaps I should have booked a wedding! I arrived back from France on Monday. I was away with Now The Twin Town in a suburb of Paris. Now I have a new phone and can send emails. Let me know how your trip goes. Fondestos. Sir James and Lady Patricia.
Hi Jo-Anne! Arrived here in Zakapane yesterday. What a place! This
morning, after a truly fabulous breakfast, (scrambled eggs with diced
ham, just for starters. All sorts of fresh fruit, (grapefruit,
watermelon, pineapple, grapes, canteloupe), buns
and breads to be topped with five or six heavenly sliced meats/cheeses
and four or five different salads which I didn't have time to get around
to sampling. Yogurt and coffee which I sipped with my "dessert" warm
poppy-seed pastries! Most of us "make" sandwiches
and take a piece of fruit, [oranges, mandarins, apples, kiwi fruit),
for picnic lunches at some point during the ride. I usually take a cup
of coffee, (Java has been terrific everywhere, almost without
exception.), back to my room to have it when we return
from ride, usually between four and five o'clock.
Had
a great ride to a place called Dolina Chocholwska today. Left at
shortly after 9:00 am and rode through Zakopane, enjoying seeing many of
the inhabitants in colourful local costumes.
It is a National Holiday today, The Feast of
Corpus Christi, a Catholic festival celebrated on the second Thursday after
Whitsun,
and people were streaming to various local churches. Many more decent
hills here then in Kraków so some good climbs until we took the turn-off
to
Dolina
Chocholwska where we were going to ride through part of a The Tatra
National Park. After Katarina bought the tickets we set
off on a pretty good road, at least for a couple of kilometres anyway.
Here, one comes upon numerous tiny huts where the local shepherds make
sheep cheese. I bought some yesterday and it reminds me of Greek
Haloumi, quite salty and great for frying. [Lady
Dar and I often serve it, as an appetizer, with sliced tomatoe and a
wedge of lemon, to cut the salt. I did the same, minus frying, last
night with the local Lemon Vodka!] After leaving these attractive,
mini-chalets behind, the surface becomes more difficult, especially
for me with the quite narrow tires on my bike. Others have more
mountain-bike like tires so a bit easier to negotiate the rocky or muddy
surface.
In
fact, it really is a logging road as one passes heaps of logs along the
way, part of a managed forest program, I assume. One does see evidence,
from time to time, of logging up on the hillsides above this road.
Anyway, Glasgow and I were in the lead and we soldiered on. I was
reasonably pleased with how I was managing over the rough surface until
we crossed a small bridge and the surface thereafter
was composed of stones, set into the roadway, much like cobblestones
but not nearly as flat or even. Needless to say progress was difficult
enough on the flat but when the road started to climb the going was
tough, very tough.
Even Matt, with his wider tires
was having to struggle. Unfortunately, for me, after a few kilometres
of this, my front wheel caught a smooth surface and the tire slipped
sideways forcing me to un-clip and come to a stop. Problem was that once
stopped it is well nigh impossible to start
again, grade being what it is and surface so uneven. Had to walk my way
to the top of the next rise and then was able to ride down a short
slope to where another bridge was to be found.
By
then, I'd decided I'd had enough of struggling with the very difficult,
potentially hazardous surface so left Matt to return, on my own, back
down the loosen-your-filings-slope. He was going to wait for the gang
where he was but I wanted to put the treacherous downhill slopes behind
me as soon as I could to then continue on with much more enjoyable
cycling. Pleased to say that I took the descent very slowly and
carefully and didn't experience any nasty situations. Once back on the
regular tarmac, pitted though it was, at this point, I was more than
delighted. Planned to ride as far as the shepherd's huts , snap a few
more pictures and then ride back as far as the surface was descent, to
meet the others.
However,
Rain Gods had other plans for me. Just after I'd stopped to take a few
snaps of the lovely creek which runs parallel to the trial and the
substantial pile of logs pile nearbye, I felt a few telltale raindrops.
Then a couple of thunder claps and I knew I was in for a downpour, the
sky above angry and threatening. Hoofed it, as quickly as possible,
towards the trees of the surrounding forest, about 500 metres further
along the trail from where I was when drops began to fall. Only made it
as far as a fairly small deciduous tree before the deluge began. It was
just teeming and shortly thereafter, hail stones, about the size of a
chickpea, began to fall. I had managed to put on my vest and then my
rain jacket before the worst began but my back was still pretty wet. I
was worried about my camera so while I was not all that comfortable, I
felt that my front, where my camera was hanging, was relatively dry and
protected.
I
think I stayed, huddled under the very, very few overhanging branches the tree
afforded for about 15 minutes before I saw a shred of blue sky and the
downpour seemed to ease off a bit. Knew I was not getting any drier so
decided I'd cycle on, hoping worst was over. Not to o bad for a bit
although the road was now a stream bed and so I had to be ever vigilant
for nasty potholes as the streaming water made it almost impossible to
see them or determine their depth. That problem was solved, for the
moment, when it started to pelt again and this time I sought refuge
under a covered picnic table, along with about fifty other unhappy
people!
I squeezed under a large tree at the edge of the table and was
fine. Started talking to three chaps there, all smoking so I knew I was
going to leave pretty quickly, rain or shine. Anyway, aside from their
nicotine habit, they were most pleasant and even offered me a slug from
their bottle of vodka. Declined as graciously as I could, really not
wanting to have anything to drink as I wanted my wits about me,
especially if I was going to be riding back to the hotel in the rain.
Not sure if I wanted to drink out of the communal bottle either and some
of the dental hygiene looked a bit suspect, Dear Reader!
Anyway,
rain did let up so I thanked them for their kind offer and waved
goodbye. Road was a little easier to ride upon by now but since it was a
gradual downhill grade, I was soon chilled by the air rushing past. No
question, now, in my mind that I was going to wait for my compatriots as
I was simply too cold to stop. Knew that once I was back on the highway
and started to climb back up the hills towards Zakopane I would warm up
and i wanted nothing more than that, let me tell you. My hands were
quite numb, as my riding gloves were soaked, while my boots were
squelch, squelch, squelching away! Still, the gradual climb along the
highway soon warmed me up and I noticed, almost as soon as I turned onto
it that it was bone dry. The thunderstorm had obviously been very
localized as road was dry all the way back to the hotel.
Once
I started to feel more comfortable I actually enjoyed the rest of the
ride and some of my clothing started to dry out as the sun was now
shining. Part of me had dreaded the climb back up but in fact it was not
nearly as taxing as I had anticipated, relatively easy I'm pleased to
report, so I was soon zooming down into Zakopane. I had a pretty good
idea of where the hotel was but did make a few wrong turns before I
found my bearings. After I knew where I was I simply rode through some
of the neighbourhoods close to our hotel, exploring a bit more of the
lovely town with its tree-lined streets and endless, and I do mean
endless, small hotels and pensjonaty.
By
the time I'd dipsy-doodled my way towards 50 km I knew I was very close
to where the hotel was located so decided to climb one last street and
at the top I came across the ski jumping facility. It is obviously a
huge tourist attraction as there were countless tour buses parked
alongside the road as well as an endless procession of tacky souvenir
kiosks lining the side of the street across from the the two runs
themselves. I'm not really a fan of skiing, let alone ski jumping, but I
was pleased to have seen the facility if only because the
2017–18 FIS Ski Jumping World Cup was held here last year. Thousand of
the sport's fans and about 80 ski jumpers from all over the world came
to the so-called Polish winter capital, Zakopane, for the event.
Anyway,
I took a few snaps of the ski jumps and then made for the hotel, just a
few blocks away. I was back in my room around 1:30 pm, after I had
ordered a cappuccino to take up with me. Once I'd downed the java I took a
lengthy hot shower, washing my riding gear at the same time since it
was soaked anyway. As well, took all my folding cash and arranged the bills on strips of toilette paper to dry them off as they were soaked! Had my money clip in a small pouch in my camel pack and it got drenched along with everything else! Glasgow arrived about an hour later to report that
they had not suffered any rain at all! I was quite pleased to learn this
as I was worried about how some of the people might do on the really
rocky part of the trail if the stones were made even more treacherous by
being wet. At any rate, everyone made it home safely and soundly. Map and Stats for ride:
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2740911035#.Ww_79713qD8.email
Earlier,
it had been agreed that the group would meet for dinner in the hotel
dining room at 5:30 pm so I beavered away on messaging until then and
joined the gang. Must say that the food was simply remarkable. I had the
Highlander Sour Soup which includes ham, bacon and sausage and was what
I should have had when waiting out the rain under the tree! Next was
Highlander Salad which included goat's cheese, Belgian Endive, corn,
radishes, arugula and red peppers, along with four pieces of bread for
soppage! Last was Highlander Dumplings, (perogies), filled with the
local cheese:
Oscypek is a smoked cheese made of salted sheep milk, produced in a
traditional way in little shepherds’ huts. Polish highlanders make it
entirely by hand using only wooden tools. Oscypek production is a long
process. In springtime shepherds take their sheep to pasture in the
mountain meadows. The cheese is made from May to September only and may
be purchased until the end of October. The production starts with
milking sheep in the morning. The milk is then filtered and curdled. The
formed cheese is then put into special wooden moulds that give it a
traditional cylindrical form and original ornaments. Later, oscypek is
soaked in salt water and after draining it is smoked over pine or spruce
wood in the same hut where it is prepared. The colour of the cheese
varies from pale lemon to brown depending on time of smoking.
These
were garnished with sour cream and chives. Dough was quite tender so
they slipped down very easily. I think my dear Grandmother, Catherine,
would have approved, so tasty were they. I needed a large glass of Żywiec and two 4 oz snorts of Żubrówka
, [bison grass vodka], to make everything blend together.
After paying
our wonderful waitress I hied myself upstairs to pack for the morrow, taking with me another snort of bison grass! Another full, full, more than wonderful, wonderful day on Wycieczka po Polsce!
Well, must away as I'm starting to feel sleepy and it will be another,
long busy day domani! Fondestos and Cheers, Patrizzio! Hello Brat Pack! Latest adventures! Cheers, Patrizzio!
Greetings from Room 211, Foluszowy Potok, Zakapane!
Hi Kids!
Didn't have either of your email addresses when I sent this out so here it is! Cheers, Patrizzio! Thanks, when does the travel guide come out? ☺ Tom & Carol Hi Patrice,
FYI, I am definitely “interested”! I have been enjoying your accounts where I can and chuckled at the first part of this one re the vodka 😊. Sounds like you are having a fantastic time and I am very happy for you as well as wishing I had been there to experience with you. Anyway I look forward to hearing lot’s more in person upon your return. Be safe my friend. Fondestos!! Al
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